Scottish Executive

Adults Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to any proposed policy of non-co-operation by GPs in relation to additional workloads arising from the Adults Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is in dialogue with the British Medical Association in relation to the current concerns of doctors about the implications of Part 5 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Central Heating

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications it has received for the installation of central heating under its central heating installation programme since the programmes inception to date from (a) (i) local authority properties and (ii) housing association properties broken down by local authority area and (b) private sector properties broken down by postcode area.

Hugh Henry: I cannot answer (a) because local authority and housing association tenants do not make an application to their landlord. Eligible households are identified by their landlords who also arrange for the works to be carried out. As regards (b), I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30388 on 22 October 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what policy applies to requests made to the Crofters Commission for the public disclosure of information held by it.

Ross Finnie: The Crofters Commission is required to comply with the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information .

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what routes of appeal are open to an individual crofter where the Crofters Commission has refused a public hearing over particular aspects of a decision and where a request for a public hearing has been made.

Ross Finnie: At present, with the exception of decisions relating to de-crofting and re-letting, the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 provides that all decisions by the Crofters Commission, including decisions regarding procedures to be adopted in handling individual cases, are final. There is no formal route of appeal other than to challenge such decisions by seeking judicial review or, if it is believed that there has been maladministration, by recourse to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

  This is why we proposed a new coherent and consistent system of appeals against all Crofters Commission regulatory decisions in the consultation document Crofting Reform Proposals for Legislation, published in July of this year.

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in relation to apportionment applications in Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes on common grazings where there may or may not be financial implications for the crofters in the common grazings.

Ross Finnie: Policy in respect of apportionment applications is a matter for the Crofters Commission. The policy of the Crofters Commission is that there will be a presumption against approval of apportionments where the Grazings Committee has entered into a management scheme which provides financial or other benefits for the township and where apportionment may prejudice that scheme. The Executive’s policy was to accept all eligible applications to join an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme until the schemes closed to new applicants in [December 2000. The ESA scheme conditions are binding on all crofters in the common grazings.

Crofting

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any restrictions on the investigative powers of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman relating to its Environment and Rural Affairs Department and the Crofters Commission and, if so, what these restrictions are and whether it has any plans to alter or remove them.

Peter Peacock: There are no specific restrictions on the investigatory powers of the ombudsman in respect of complaints made against the Environment and Rural Affairs Department or the Crofters Commission. General restrictions and exclusions on the Ombudsman’s investigatory powers are set out in sections 7 and 8 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 (asp 11).

Enterprise

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses have located in the Clydesdale constituency in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02.

Iain Gray: Using data from Scottish extracts of the Office of National Statistics Inter Departmental Business Register, there were:

  (a) two hundred and eighty-five enterprises which located into Clydesdale constituency between November 1999 and November 2000;

  (b) three hundred and thirty enterprises which located into Clydesdale constituency between November 2000 and November 2001, and

  (c) Data is not yet available for 2001-02.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to assess the impact of technical conservation measures on fish stocks and whether the results of any such assessment have been taken into account when negotiating fisheries management options in Europe.

Ross Finnie: Much of the work contained in the recently published Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department/Industry/Science Partnership Report was designed to assess the impact of the technical measures agreed upon under the cod recovery plan; other assessments have been conducted by the Fisheries Research Services Marine Laboratory. The Advisory Committee for Fisheries Management projections already take account of some of the measures.

  The Scottish Executive has stated clearly that the impact of the technical measures adopted by Scottish fishermen must be properly taken into account when decisions are made regarding future fishing arrangements.

Health

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what scientific research has been carried out regarding any links between HIV/AIDS and exposure to radioactivity.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland.

  The CSO is not aware of any recent research having been carried out on links between HIV/AIDS and exposure to radioactivity. From peer-reviewed internationally published literature, research carried out in the 1990s suggests that exposure to radiation can weaken the immune system and make the body more susceptible to infection including HIV/AIDS.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has allocated money to NHS boards for the implementation of positive appraisals of new drugs by the Scottish Medicine Consortium.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Medicines Consortium is a consortium which brings together the NHS Board Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees. All NHS boards already receive funding to provide drugs for their local populations.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the Scottish Medicine Consortium is not a statutory body.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Medicines Consortium is a consortium of NHS boards. It brings together Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees to ensure that all NHS boards receive the same advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs at the time of their launch, and does not need to be a statutory body.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the Scottish Medicine Consortium was not included in the review of the Health Technology Board for Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Medicines Consortium is a consortium of NHS Board Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees. While the Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) provides administrative, technical and communication support to the consortium, the consortium is not a part of HTBS.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether statistics collected on the use of medicines are broken down by NHS board and whether this information is publicly available.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the total number and cost of NHS prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists, dispensing doctors and appliance suppliers is collected centrally and is publicly available on the Information and Statistics Division website:

  http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/primary_care/pservices/pcare_pservices.htm.

  The data are shown for the most recently available year broken down by dispensing NHS board. These data do not include prescriptions for medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital-based clinics. They also do not include over-the-counter medicines purchased without a prescription.

Housing

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to increase access to social housing for local people in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in the last three years.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

  Communities Scotland’s housing investment programme has increased access to social housing for local people in urban and rural areas by providing new or improved housing, to meet the needs of those on low incomes seeking to rent social housing and through providing housing to replace or improve non-effective or poor quality housing thus improving the quality of life of the residents.

  As a result, Communities Scotland expenditure on social rented housing in Urban and Rural Areas (1999-2000 to 2001-02) has been as follows:

  Communities Scotland - Expenditure on Social Rented Housing in Urban and Rural Areas (2000-01 to 2002-03)

  


Year 
  

Urban Areas (£ million) 
  

Rural Areas (£ million) 
  



1999-2000 
  

129.0 
  

34.6 
  



2000-01 
  

138.3 
  

38.3 
  



2001-02 
  

141.6 
  

48.6

Housing

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its news release SE4054/2001 of 27 September 2001, what progress has been made with its mortgage to rent scheme in respect of the conditions and general workings of the scheme; how much of the available budget has been spent to date, and how many householders have taken part, or are likely to take part, in the scheme in each year for which funding has been allocated.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

  Ministerial approval will be sought shortly to the proposed Mortgage to Rent scheme with a view to the scheme being operational early in 2003. The scheme has been developed by the National Co-ordinator, appointed in April 2002, in conjunction with a working group comprising relevant lending, housing and consumer advice interests. Expenditure to date has been restricted to administrative costs (£26,500). It is expected that the scheme will be able to support up to 150 households each year.

Justice

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports of offences under each of sections 7(1), 8(2), 9(1), 10(1)(a) and 12 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) Scotland Act 1995 have been made to procurators fiscal in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court area.

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports to procurator fiscals of offences under each of sections 7(1), 8(2), 9(1), 10(1)(a) and 12 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) Scotland Act 1995 were proceeded with in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court area.

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions were obtained under each of sections 7(1), 8(2), 9(1), 10(1)(a) and 12 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) Scotland Act 1995 in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court area.

Elish Angiolini QC: There has been one such report in the year 2001-02. The charge of a contravention of section 7(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) Scotland Act 1995 was one of four charges in a case reported to the Procurator Fiscal at Edinburgh. The case was disposed of by way of an indictment in terms of section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which is an accelerated mechanism in solemn procedure for disposing of case where a plea has been agreed; the indictment is served on a shorter notice period and contains only the charges to which it has been agreed guilty pleas will be tendered and accepted. The section 76 indictment in this case did not include the section 7(1)(a) charge. A sentence of six months imprisonment was imposed.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 55(1) of the British Transport Commission Act 1949 as amended.

Elish Angiolini QC: Figures for the number of reports submitted to procurators fiscal under the stated section are not separately identifiable.

  Figures for persons proceeded against and convictions obtained are in the following tables. It should be noted that where a person is proceeded against for more that one crime or offence, only the "main charge" is recorded for statistical purposes. The main charge is that which is the most serious and receives the severest penalty.

  Table 1: Persons Where Main Offence Under Section 55 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949, 1998-2000

  


Year of Sentence 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  



Persons proceeded against 
  

82 
  

36 
  

35 
  



  Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department.

  Table 2: Persons Where Main Offence Under Section 55 of the British Transport Commission Act 1949, 1998-2000

  


Year of Sentence 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  



Persons with charge proved 
  

78 
  

31 
  

32 
  



  Source: Scottish Executive Justice Department.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the most commonly prescribed drugs are for use in association with mental health problems by (a) volume and (b) sales.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is given in the following table:

  Most Commonly Prescribed Drugs by Volume and (Number of Items Dispensed) During 2001-02

  

 

Number of Dispensed1 Items 
  

Gross Ingredient2
Cost (£) 
  



Diazepam 
  

737,895 
  

959,170 
  



Amitriptyline 
  

525,485 
  

1,127,664 
  



Fluoxetine 
  

500,390 
  

4,636.70 
  



Paroxetine 
  

468,847 
  

12,437,001 
  



Temazepam 
  

455,686 
  

753,203 
  



Citalopram 
  

375,172 
  

8,036,725 
  



Zopiclone 
  

253,914 
  

1,040,088 
  



Nitrazepam 
  

231,916 
  

351,461 
  



Venlafaxine 
  

231,483 
  

9,090,742 
  



Sertraline 
  

210,468 
  

5,561,565 
  



Dothiepin Hydrochloride 
  

208,268 
  

826,899 
  



Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride 
  

149,266 
  

334,755 
  



Trazodone Hydrochloride 
  

139,465 
  

2,194,398 
  



Zolpidem 
  

92,997 
  

380,306 
  



Risperidone 
  

88,745 
  

3,880,327 
  



Chlordiazepoxide 
  

88,345 
  

230,615 
  



Lithium Carbonate 
  

79,611 
  

201,283 
  



Lofepramine 
  

76,710 
  

944,607 
  



Mirtazapine 
  

73,834 
  

2,112,260 
  



Olanzapine 
  

67,171 
  

7,016,214 
  



  Notes:

  1. Data refer to prescriptions dispensed in the community but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital-based clinics.

  2. The cost given is the cost of items before addition of any pharmacy fees and deduction of any discount and patient charges.

NHS Staff

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to establish a new national pay and conditions negotiating machinery within the NHS in respect of all or some of the service’s employees.

Malcolm Chisholm: No.

Public Private Partnerships

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reduce the cost of bidding for Public Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnerships contracts with (a) the Executive and (b) other public authorities.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is approaching this in a number of ways. The Scottish Schools Standard Public Private Partnerships Contract was recently issued to all local authorities. The Scottish Executive, through Partnerships UK, are carrying out reviews of schools Public Private Partnership projects at key stages to ensure the robustness of projects as they go through the procurement phase. In addition, we are ensuring the procuring body is an informed client through a programme of training and support. These measures are aimed at streamlining the procurement process.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its projected trunk road spending will be in 2003-04, broken down by project and detailing the work to be carried out, the road and exact location.

Iain Gray: Projected motorway and trunk road spending plans for 2003-04 are shown in the recently published Building a Better Scotland . It is not possible at this stage to provide a detail allocation of spending to individual schemes but specific projects on which funding will be incurred for next year include the following:

  


Project by Location 
  

Brief Description of Works 
  

Road 
  



Bowerhouse-Spott 
  

Upgrade from single to dual carriageway. 
  

A1 
  



Haddington-Dunbar 
  

Upgrade from single to dual carriageway. 
  

A1 
  



Howburn-Houndwood 
  

Upgrade from single to dual carriageway. 
  

A1 
  



Thistly Cross-Bowerhouse 
  

Upgrade from single to dual carriageway. 
  

A1 
  



Barfill-Bettyknowes 
  

Overtaking section. 
  

A75 
  



Cairntop-Barlae 
  

Provide overtaking opportunities. 
  

A75 
  



Dunragit Re-alignment 
  

Replace bridge and provide overtaking opportunities. 
  

A75 
  



Hardgrove-Kinmount 
  

Overtaking section. 
  

A75 
  



Newton Stewart 
  

Acceleration lane north of roundabout 
  

A75 
  



Planting End to Drumflower 
  

Eastbound overtaking section. 
  

A75 
  



Crossroads 
  

Conversion of staggered junction to roundabout. 
  

A76 
  



Gateside 
  

Widen and create straight section of road. 
  

A76 
  



Ardrossan-Stevenston 
  

Bypass of Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston 
  

A78 
  



Baillieston-Newhouse 
  

Refurbishment of carriageway 
  

A8 
  



Shawhead Junction 
  

Safety and congestion improvements. 
  

A8 and A726 
  



Auchenkilns 
  

Grade separated junction 
  

A80 
  



Arisaig-Kinsadel 
  

New 2 lane road. 
  

A830 
  



Kincardine Bridge 
  

New crossing and refurbish existing structure. 
  

A876 
  



Forfar Grade Separation- Kirriemuir and Glamis 
  

Road safety works. 
  

A90 
  



Glendoick Interchange 
  

Grade separation. 
  

A90 
  



Inchture 
  

Road safety works. 
  

A90 
  



Kinfauns Interchange 
  

Grade separation. 
  

A90 
  



Preston-Balfarg 
  

Upgrades of route junctions. 
  

A92 
  



Coachford 
  

Climbing lane. 
  

A96 
  



Fochabers-Mosstodloch Bypass 
  

Single carriageway bypass. 
  

A96 
  



Newtongarry-Adamston 
  

Climbing lane. 
  

A96 
  



Kincardine Eastern Link Road 
  

New wide single carriageway eastern link road. 
  

A985 
  



M74 Completion 
  

Provision of link between M74 and M8 
  

M74 & M8 
  



Fenwick-Malletsheugh 
  

Motorway extension between Glasgow and Kilmarnock. 
  

M77 
  



Enterkinfoot 
  

Removal of road stability problems 
  

A76 
  



Burnside Improvement 
  

Provision of overtaking opportunities 
  

A77 
  



Turnberry Climbing Lane 
  

Provision of overtaking opportunities 
  

A77 
  



Symington Roundabout 
  

Junction Improvement 
  

A77 
  



Roadhead 
  

Roundabout Improvement 
  

A737 
  



Helmsdale 
  

Road re-alignment and new climbing lane 
  

A9 
  



Bankfoot 
  

Junction Improvements 
  

A9 
  



Ballinluig 
  

Grade separated junction 
  

A9 
  



Hatton Bends 
  

Road Re-alignment 
  

A90 
  



Gaich to Craggan 
  

Road Re-alignment 
  

A95 
  



Lighting 
  

Refurbishment of High Mast Lighting 
  

M8 
  



Overhead Gantries 
  

Refurbishment of Overhead Gantries 
  

M8

Schools

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual recurrent grant was for St Mary’s Episcopal Primary School, Dunblane, in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2002-03.

Nicol Stephen: The Annual Recurrent Grant for these years is as follows:

  


2000-01 
  

£154,029 
  



2001-02 
  

£168,507 
  



2002-03 
  

£191,006P




  PProvisional figure.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spends, on average, on publicising a consultation document.

Mr Andy Kerr: There is currently no central record of such costs. Such detailed information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publicising and making available the consultation document Reform of Social Work Education: Proposals for Consultation on the Curriculum for the New Honours Degree .

Cathy Jamieson: The total cost of publicising and making available the consultation document, Reform of Social Work Education: Proposals for Consultation on the Curriculum for the New Honours Degree , was as follows:

  


Cost of publishing and distribution of document 
  

£2,465 
  



Cost of 6 roadshows 
  

£13,490

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publicising and making available the consultation document Towards Better Oral Health in Children .

Malcolm Chisholm: Publication costs of the consultation document Towards Better Oral Health in Children including web publication were £8,500 and distribution costs £4,000.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publicising and making available the consultation document The Scottish Executive’s Consultation on the Future of the Scottish Prison Estate .

Mr Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29287 on 28 October 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publicising and making available the consultation document The National Debate on Education - The best for ALL our children .

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24690 on 1 May 2002, where all costs associated with the National Debate briefing pack were estimated at £360,000. The actual costs were £350,000 (including VAT). All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its National Debate on Education website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Cathy Jamieson: The National Debate on Education website was launched on 20 March 2002. Since then, there have been approximately 21,000 hits to the homepages for the Discussion and Reflection stages of the Debate.

  Figures for the number of hits per month are displayed in the following table.

  The National Debate is a new approach to consultation and we had no comparable information on which to base a pre-launch projection of the number of hits.

  


Period 
  

Number of Hits 
  



20-03-2002 to 29-04-2002 
  

4,246 
  



30-04-2002 to 27-05-2002 
  

3,860 
  



28-05-2002 to 24-06-2002 
  

3,865 
  



25-06-2002 to 29-07-2002 
  

1,472 
  



30-07-2002 to 26-08-2002 
  

445 
  



27-08-2002 to 30-09-2002 
  

692 
  



01-10-2002 to 28-10-2002 
  

6,626

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its Do a Little, Change a lot website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Ross Finnie: The Do a Little, Change a Lot website, www.dochange.net , was redesigned and re-launched on 2 September to coincide with the new phase of the campaign. The site had 2,378 hits in its first month. No pre-launch projections were made. The previous version of the site had around 19,800 hits from September 2001 to August 2002.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its National Grid for Learning (Scotland) website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Nicol Stephen: The National Grid for Learning web services received 3,018,233 hits during the period October 2000 to October 2002. Figures are not available for the initial period of 2000 when the site was under development. A detailed breakdown of hits since the initial set up of the NGfL is given in the following table.

  There were no pre-launch projections made in relation to the NGfL website, since its use was heavily dependent on related initiatives, such as the roll-out of the NGfL infrastructure and hardware and New Opportunities Fund training for teachers.

  Table Showing Total Number of Hits on the NGfL Scotland Web Services for the Period October 2000 to October 2002:

  


Period 
  

Successful Hits For Entire Site 
  

Average Hits Per Month 
  



11-10-00 to 31-12-00 
  

75,487 
  

25,162 
  



01-01-01 to 31-03-01 
  

115,110 
  

38,370 
  



01-04-01 to 30-06-01 
  

157,703 
  

52,567 
  



01-07-01 to 30-09-01 
  

197,091 
  

65,697 
  



01-10-01 to 31-12-01 
  

403,641 
  

134,547 
  



01-01-02 to 31-03-02 
  

531,284 
  

177,095 
  



01-04-02 to 30-06-02 
  

502,688 
  

167,652 
  



01-07-02 to 30-09-02 
  

883,349 
  

294,449

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its Know the Score website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Dr Richard Simpson: Up until 31 October 2002, there had been a total of 153,179 hits to the Know the Score website. On a month-by-month basis, this is broken down as follows:

  


April 
  

11,073 
  



May 
  

14,579 
  



June 
  

17,548 
  



July 
  

19,874 
  



August 
  

24,925 
  



September 
  

30,389 
  



October 
  

34,791 
  



  No pre-launch projections were made, but the performance of the website will form part of a wider evaluation of the Know the Score Drugs Communications Strategy, which will commence early next year. The website was established as part of the Communications Strategy in response to independent research, commissioned by the Executive, which showed that there was a desire from the public for access to factual information on drugs, and the risks associated with their use.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its M74 Completion website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of hits on the site since its introduction in May 2002 is 199,970. However, given the opinion of the National Audit Office, in their report on government websites, that hits is not a reliable way to measure activity, we monitor the site using figures relating to page impressions. Page impressions measure the number of actual pages a user views on the site.

  Since its introduction and to the end of October 2002, there have been 122,615 page impressions viewed on the M74 Completion website – monthly figures are shown in the following table. We had no projections of how many page impressions the site would attract as there were no precedents to benchmark against.

  Page Impressions 2002

  


May 
  

21,025 
  



June 
  

11,826 
  



July 
  

12,632 
  



August 
  

15,523 
  



September 
  

25,776 
  



October 
  

35,833

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its Funding for Learners website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Iain Gray: The Funding For Learners website was launched in March 2002 and, at the end of September 2002, had received 29,122 hits. This figure compares favourably with our pre-launch projections.

  The total number of hits by month is:

  


March 
  

7,637 
  



April 
  

11,920 
  



May 
  

1,802 
  



June 
  

2,640 
  



July 
  

1,779 
  



August 
  

1,338 
  



September 
  

2,006

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its Property Pages website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Mr Andy Kerr: The website is managed by Scottish Property Network (SPN) who regularly analyse site activity using the proprietary WEBTRENDS software.

  The total and monthly number of hits on the Scottish Executive public sector property website are shown in the following table. However, as National Audit Office (NAO) guidelines recommend that the number of page impressions or number of user sessions may be a more reliable indication of website traffic, these figures are also provided.

  

 
 

May 
  

June 
  

July 
  

Aug 
  

Sep 
  

Oct 
  

Total 
  



Webtrends Analysis 
  

Hits to Entire Site (successful) 
  

9,043 
  

12,618 
  

27,631 
  

45,152 
  

47,804 
  

36,099 
  

178,347 
  



Page Impressions 
  

4,060 
  

6,525 
  

13,683 
  

21,023 
  

20,652 
  

16,086 
  

82,029 
  



Visits (User Sessions) 
  

853 
  

1,706 
  

2,229 
  

4,196 
  

5,410 
  

4,146 
  

18,540 
  



  There were no pre-launch projections of numbers of hits. The success criterion for the site is an assessment at the end of the three-year pilot period through consulting the major public sector participants on how useful a marketing tool it is to them.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits its Children’s Hearings website has had (a) in total and (b) each month and how these figures compare to pre-launch projections.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive Education Department began receiving website statistics in February 2001. Since then the total number of recorded hits to the home page of the Children’s Hearings website is 25,266 and to the entire site is 310,706.

  Statistics were not routinely collected on a monthly basis until November 2001. The following table gives details of monthly figures from then. No pre-launch projection of the number of hits was carried out prior to set-up of the site.

  


Month 
  

Hits for Home Page 
  

Successful Hits for Entire Site 
  



November 2001 
  

 851 
  

 9,533 
  



December 2001 
  

 640 
  

 6,581 
  



January 2002 
  

 955 
  

 11,517 
  



February 2002 
  

 876 
  

 10,280 
  



March 2002 
  

 2012 
  

 24,001 
  



April 2002 
  

 2963 
  

 35,173 
  



May 2002 
  

 4230 
  

 49,063 
  



June 2002 
  

 5201 
  

 60,349 
  



July 2002 
  

 1056 
  

 12,169 
  



August 2002 
  

 1720 
  

 23,584 
  



September 2002 
  

 2,209 
  

 36,868 
  



Total 
  

 22,713 
  

 279,118

Security Industry

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to consider licensing companies that provide security services to householders and commercial businesses.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is committed to introducing effective and affordable regulation of the private security industry. Following a consultation last year, we are considering the best way to achieve this. We plan to make our position known shortly.

Teachers

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many supply teachers were temporarily employed in a publicly-funded secondary school in August in each year since 1995.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally.

Voluntary Organisations

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28599 by Dr Richard Simpson on 17 September 2002, whether it will provide an explanation of its statement in that answer that criminal record certificates may be obtained "at no cost to … the voluntary organisations concerned".

Dr Richard Simpson: The statement means that Scottish ministers will pay for each disclosure issued by Disclosure Scotland to a volunteer in the voluntary sector working with children or other vulnerable people, as long as the application has been routed through the Central Registered Body Scotland.

  The fee for a disclosure is £13.60.

Voluntary Organisations

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Central Registered Body Scotland charges voluntary organisations for attending seminars on the system of administering criminal record checks or for advice and help in processing applications.

Dr Richard Simpson: In the majority of situations, the Central Registered Body Scotland does not make a charge to organisations in relation to attending introductory seminars on the administration of criminal records checks, nor for advice in processing applications.

  However, in those circumstances where expenditure is incurred in travel, or where sessions have been held at the specific request of groups to meet their particular location, needs and requirements, expenses have been sought.

  The fees for these events are based on the nature of the training, location, numbers and whether external specialists require to be brought in to deal with specific matters.